Many professionals at FDA are dedicated, overworked and underpaid, earning on average in the $80K per year range. When an issue was made about some managers receiving $5000 bonuses (before taxes) a few weeks ago, that seemed ridiculous, but Congress continued investigating the bonuses this past week.
On Thursday, the
Washington Post reported (
click here for the article) that the Agency's regulatory affairs chief Margaret Glavin has received over $178,000 in cash bonuses (on top of a $159,840 annual salary) for the past four and a half years, and $48,823 in cash bonuses in 2005 alone. She was reportedly asked to sign a simple declaration: "If I am unable to receive a retention allowance, I am likely to leave the federal government for a higher paying position in the private sector."
In contrast, chemical engineer Rebecca Parrilla, the FDA investigator who won the agency's top national award last year received a cash bonus of $2,500, or $1,400 after taxes.
Not to make any arguments re: the utility of a liberal arts vs. sciences degree (Carly Fiorina had a B.A. in medieval studies after all), and both jobs are necessary, but how about spreading the tiny windfall a bit more equitably throughout the Agency?
More evidence that what happens within FDA, as an organization, isn't all that different from what goes on within a typical pharma (or other) company.
-AMS